2019 Holiday in Inverness: Days 5 - 6: Dornoch Firth, Tain, The Black Isle, Rogie Falls and Ullapool

Wednesday began with a return visit to the beautiful beach at Dornoch for our morning walk. Brock met a little friend to chase around with. [Click on any photograph to see a larger version].

We took a scenic route around Dornoch Firth, stopping off at Bonar Bridge.

Tain was our next stop, for a quick look around the town, before having a delicious lunch in Greens Restaurant (mozzarella and sundried tomato salad for me; quiche and chips for Rob). Lovely interior, great food and friendly staff - highly recommended. The only improvement I could suggest, is having a dog friendly table or two!

Historic court building in Tain.

Interior of Greens.

We drove on to Cromarty on The Black Isle - a picturesque, 18th century town on the tip of the peninsula, with spectacular views including oil rigs being serviced or decommissioned, and the 'sutor' rocks guarding the entrance to Cromarty Firth.

South Sutor

View from the shore at Cromarty

There are lots of interesting independent shops and cafes to visit. We enjoyed looking around The Cromarty Pottery, and purchased a spoon rest with a fish and seaweed design, and a small, white spoon with a blue pattern on it, made by potter, Barbel Dister. Follow the link to see similar pieces on her website.

I finally bought some postcards and stamps on the way to Chanonry Point at Rosemarkie! They seem to be harder to find in these days of online sharing. Chanonry Point was looking very dramatic under cloudy skies, with a brisk wind, and choppy water on all three sides of the peninsula. It is sometimes possible to see dolphins from here, but I have visited four times and have yet to see them. 🐬

Distant view of Fort George

FRI PORSGRUNN This Cypriot cargo vessel is currently in the Baltic Sea, as I type. You can trace its whereabouts through the link above.

Here's Rob's photo of me taking the photo of the ship! I am standing on the point of Chanonry Point.

Chanonry Point lighthouse.

Dinner when we got home was a take away from The Curry Hoose in Culloden. There was a good selection of vegetables in the two curries we ordered. The pakora and rice were also good. Quite pricey, but there was enough food for two meals.

On Thursday, we set out towards Ullapool, stopping off at Rogie Falls for our morning walk. There are two short walks from the car park: (one more 'strenuous' as they put it on the sign post. We took that route to the falls to walk off our curry of the night before!). There was plenty of flow in the Black Water to make the waterfalls quite a torrent.

On the drive along the A835, we saw stunning views all the way along, including this one of Loch Droma.

 At Ullapool, we had a walk around the town before lunch in The Celidh Place. A very nice, dog friendly venue with a book shop attached. We managed to get the table next to the wood burning stove 🔥 I had a GF cheese and Waldorf salad open sandwich; Rob had a split pea burger and chips - both meals were very tasty.

There are lots of shops to investigate, and we bought a couple of cards in the community charity shop, a sweatshirt from the Edinburgh Woollen Mill, and an ice cream to eat while admiring the view out to sea.

Holiday to Inverness 2016: 24 - 25 September: Dunkeld, Inverness and Chanonry Point

Rob, Brock and I have just returned from a week's holiday in Inverness.

We stopped off at Dunkeld on the way up. It is a very picturesque town with hotels, cafes and small shops. Palmerston's Cafe was where we had lunch (jacket potatoes with hummus and salad). The food is pretty good, but one of the waitresses is rather on the abrupt side, which is a bit off-putting, so I couldn't recommend it.

There is an excellent deli in the town: The Scottish Deli. We bought a bag of food there to take with us for the week: muesli, almond milk, cheese, butter, olives, wine, stuffed chillies, bread, hummus, strawberries etc.

We arrived at Rookery Nook, our accommodation for the week, at about 4.00 pm. It is a 'compact and bijoux' apartment with a tiny, private garden area (complete with bird feeder, rockery, washing line, seating area and plants). The apartment is in a very quiet area of Inverness, but only a few minutes drive to the centre or the ring road, so suited us very well. It has an open-plan kitchen/dining area/sitting room, with a bedroom, and a shower room.

Brock made himself at home on the duvet we'd bought for him (no pets on the furniture, please!).

On the Sunday, we headed into the centre of Inverness to do the Ness Islands Walk, only to find that there was a marathon and fun run taking place.

A view from one of the islands. We managed to complete the walk before the main race began.

 Warming up before the race starts.

Just before the race began.

The event was sponsored by Baxters soup and it was quite amusing to hear the commentator trying to work 'his favourite soup' into interviews with the competitors.

Rob and I had a walk around the town, but most of the shops, and the museum were closed. We did manage to get some postcards in The Works!

Chanonry Point near Rosemarkie on The Black Isle was our final stop for the day. The sat nav took us on the scenic route around the Beauly Firth, which is absolutely beautiful.

It was a bit windy on the point, but the beach that runs back to Rosemarkie was quite sheltered. You can see dolphins from here if you arrive in the late afternoon.

Chanonry Lighthouse.

Walking back along the beach towards Rosemarkie.

Brock enjoyed the walk and met some friends along the way.

By the time we approached the community cafe on the beach, the sun had come out and it was hot enough to sit outside for lunch.

The popular community cafe in Rosemarkie. Good tea, and GF egg roll, but very dry cakes :o/

We had a couple of hours rest at the holiday home before visiting a nearby pub for dinner: The Fluke. It was quite lively, with a mixed age crowd, and music from a jukebox. We ate the cauliflower and red pepper curry, which came with rice and poppadoms - quite tasty, washed down with some cider! They had quite a few other vegetarian meals on the menu: most centred around halloumi cheese.

Holiday to Inverness: Days 1 - 2

23 - 24 March 2013
Journey up and visit to The Black Isle

Rob, Brock and I are just back from a week's holiday staying at The Bothy, Croy, near Inverness.

On the day that we were leaving for our trip, our area was hit by a heavy snowfall, with drifting of up to 4' deep in places. Our nearest neighbours were completely snowed in, we were luckily able to get away as our house is on a hill with two directions to travel in.

We stopped off at Dunkeld for lunch and to give Brock his third walk of the day, along by the river. We found a cafe that allowed dogs, albeit in a tiny annex area. We stocked up on some nice wine and food at the deli before heading to Croy.

We arrived at 5pm and got the wood burning stove fired up.

On Sunday, we started with a walk along the River Ness, from the South Kessock area towards Inverness. We saw lots of interesting buildings along the way, but this graffiti caught our eye. (Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

Rob and Brock with Rocpool restaurant in the background. Rated the #1 restaurant in Inverness on TripAdvisor - but only has one vegetarian option on the menu!

Next, we headed to the Black Isle. The weather was cold, with an icy wind.

We walked Brock at Chanonry Point, then headed back to Rosemarkie for lunch at the community-run cafe on the beach.

The lighthouse at Chanonry Point

The beach looking towards Rosemarkie

Master Brock on the beach

Cromarty was our next stopping point, where we had a warming, 'luxury' hot chocolate in a cafe and bought some cheese, second hand books and handmade soap in some of the lovely, little independent shops there.

A view from Cromarty harbour.

We drove round a little more, before heading back for a glass of red wine next to the log fire at the cottage!

Our Holiday In Inverness VI

Day 6: Thursday 8 October 2009


We drove all round The Black Isle, and started with a visit to the Wildlife Park (entry is £6.50 for adults, with bags of food at £1 per bag). There were lots of animals to feed or look at - zebras, goats, racoons, pigs, geese, ducks, peacocks, deer, wallabies, coypu, meercats, rabbits, owls etc. I am always in a quandry about zoos, in that I love to see the animals, but hate to see any animal or bird caged, so always come away feeling a mixture of emotions.


The coffee in the Wildlife Park cafe was truly vile - like something out of a dodgy vending machine and yet cost £2.25!

Lunch was a picnic at Chanonry Point - a small, narrow peninsula with an attractive lighthouse at the end, a golf course on one side, and beach on the other.


You can see Fort George (a military base dating from the late 19th century) across the water on another peninsula. The tides look lively here and you could see the currents mixing. Another lovely day, with blue skies and dark blue sea.


We drove to the 'end of the road' at Cromarty - a fishing village looking out over the Cromarty Firth - famous for its mention in the shipping forecast. We liked Cromarty, which has a very nice bakery, cafe, shops, boat rides to see dolphins, and a beach. You can see a factory making oil rigs on a distant shore.

Dinner: The Highland Food Stop, near Croy
JKW: Good old veggie burger and chips, salad garnish, apple juice.
RJW: Eggs, chips and veg (carrots and peas), tea.
Cost: approx £12+
This busy roadside cafe was conveniently situated a few miles from our holiday cottage. Service was brisk and business-like, portions were generous and good value. A typical chip shop cafe with (almost) everything deep fried. Nice for a one off, but I wouldn't have wanted to eat there every night.